Twitter warning from Chris Bouzy (BotSentinel proprietor): 🚨I AM RINGING THE ALARM

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Christopher Bouzy @cbouzy

🚨I AM RINGING THE ALARM: http://BotSentinel.com is monitoring inauthentic accounts masquerading as Democrats. These accounts are attempting to sow discord and spread disinformation. We are seeing genuine accounts being influenced by this deceptive activity, PLEASE be cautious.

7:44 AM - Feb 6, 2020

[Iliyah]

1. Duh . . .

Foreign and inside influence with the blessings of the Republican party. If you can't win fairly, cheat and steal it.

[SmartVoter22]

2. Do you need a bot app?

I can pay attention to what I read. I understand english and can spot a bot.
You can too. Look for words that are speculative. Maybe, could, might, possibly, if...
you know, the words that are required for every FoxNews report.(speculation helps reduce slander and libel lawsuits)

I also do not give any credibility to one individual's opinion...which is what 100% of Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Pinterest, etc are. They are not news and if people take those posts as fact...well, that's a cognition problem in how they were taught in early life. Fact finding is not hard, and really shouldn't be handed over to a profit making entity. People can think, and should do more of it online.

Print news and over the air broadcast news are bound, by law, to validate statements of fact.
If more people understood this one fact about the 1st Amendment, we would see far less fake news,
Cable news is, in fact, only a paid subscription based entertainment service. It was never news and never will be. The NY Times, ABC, PBS, NBC ( MSNBC is not) are real news. Blogs (Breitbart,etc) are not news.

A bot is only a guess based on past data compiled to compare current data. The bot is trying to analyze opinions.[ That winds up being an opinion of opinions. That proves nothing.

Just pay attention and if you need to re-read a post to check for speculation, take the time to think about every single sentence you read.

Dennis, you opened a good question here, but does it stop people from thinking opinions are facts? Let's hope this can focus on how gullible people can be to accept everything as fact.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. Actually, the bot (algorithm) analyzes tweeting and retweeting patterns

It has no ability to analyze "opinions".

[Duppers]

6. True.

[PatrickforO]

16. I'm still not clear on the difference between a 'bot and a troll, except that

the troll is usually human and the 'bot not.

For instance, I go on the Hill a lot. I don't think there are that many serious posters on there - maybe 25-30%. The rest are people who say one line stuff, engage in ad hominem attacks and just generally not make sense. I call these trolls.

Not sure about 'bots.

[usaf-vet]

10. I also look at the number of DU post.

I've been a member since 2007 but only recently been active.

With just approaching 2000 posts it still makes me a newbie in comparison with members having 5 and 6 digits post numbers. I'm sure there will be lots of newcomers given the Trump administration. Some legit and some maybe not. But that is one of my starting points to judge posts.

Also, I have kept my Facebook acct but only check it once a week and then only the activity of my friends.

[defacto7]

12. Unfortunate but true.

Maybe we can get away from that after the election but post count and old accounts with low post counts have to be looked at with some suspition during these times.

[BBG]

17. S'okay, I suspect myself at times

[ChiTownDenny]

31. LOL!

I suspect you, too.

[Silver1]

32. Then there's me ...

LONG time follower ... with a wee post tally.

[ChiTownDenny]

33. Yup.

You're suspicious, too.

[Pachamama]

3. The trolls posing as "concerned" Democrats are all over DU

It’s rather obvious in most cases by all the Newbies and suspicious accounts that are trying to sow discord and panic....referring to things they have “heard” etc...

[Andy823]

5. [phone]

It's an infestation, especially on the Primaries board.

[Farmer-Rick]

7. Yup.

[TwilightZone]

9. It's not just newbies.

Some of them have been here for years but just learned how to skirt the rules.

There is definitely an influx of new accounts that seem intent on riling people up, however. Can't argue with that. Happens about this time every primary cycle.

[CaptYossarian]

19. Not in every case.

I was on here about 2 years before I registered because I'm not very computer literate and was uncomfortable taking the leap. One day, I took the time to register (without my teenage daughter's help) and I'm more comfortable now since I joined by myself.

BTW, I didn't use an electric typewriter until I was 23. Big steps.

[TwilightZone]

23. Agreed.

I didn't mean to imply that all new members are trolls. Quite the contrary. The ones who are tend to be fairly obvious about it and show up around significant events.

But, we've also added a lot of new posters this cycle who seem sincere and are adding much to the conversation. The more of those, the merrier.

[Laelth]

24. Well said. n/t

-Laelth

[defacto7]

13. Yup, everywhere and up close.

[yaesu]

14. There is too much "concern trolling" going on about different candidates. Like way back machines

that post something a candidate said in middle school

[Lonestarblue]

8. Twitter should suspend bots until the election is over.

That would cut down on a lot of misinformation and just leave the job to the actual Trump trolls.

[NewJeffCT]

11. Many Twitter accounts get a "bot" test to make sure they're real people

not long after they're created - especially if they start going crazy following people in the first few days. However, the amount created makes it very difficult to keep up with them all.

[AllaN01Bear]

15. indeed

i dont communicate via twitter , but what do bots do? what purpose do bots serve . i know the term is shorthand for robot.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

18. Yesterday, I experienced my first Troll Swarm ever on Twitter.

To keep this comment within GD, I won't mention the names of any candidates, but I made a sarcastic remark to a supposed supporter of one candidate who declared his/her/its desire to only vote for that one candidate and no others...basically something to the effect of "Well, when we're placed in Emperor Trump's reeducation camps, we'll all admire your great bravery today."

And let me tell you, after that one tweet, I was absolutely inundated with comments against my position, which were then liked and re-tweeted over and over and over again. Some included strange and even distasteful pictures directed towards me, personally. It didn't bother me personally, but my notifications every time there was a comment or a like of a comment or a retweet of a comment got overwhelming to the point I could barely stay on.

It was crazy. Like a hornets nest. And this all happened within the span of minutes.

[Laelth]

25. I have a Twitter account, but I don't use it at all.

I just "reserved my name," so to speak, but I don't "get" Twitter--don't really understand how it works and fear embarrassing myself out of pure naivete. Your tale (above) reminds me why I may not want to invest my time in that application.

-Laelth

[Tommy_Carcetti]

26. It's a terrible platform. I hate it.

I do use it for the purposes of a discussion tool, but use a psuedonmym and don't go into personal information. Nor do I care about how many followers I get (which aren't a lot, only 100).

It's clunky, hard to read and inefficient with its word limits.

[SWBTATTReg]

27. Wow. Thanks for sharing this information w/ us. It is crazy. Especially the personal attacks. ..

Hang in there, and thanks again for sharing this distasteful part of the internet.

I'm just glad I'm not on Twitter.

[dewsgirl]

29. @RobAnderson2018 tagged me in a tweet on the night

of the world series, saying Barron would probably like to go to a ball game. That was the first time I experienced a bot swarm, it had to be the name Barron that set it off, I got thousands of repetitive notifications for 5 days after that, rendering my inbox useless.

[GoCubsGo]

20. This cannot be repeated often enough.

Thank you!

[djacq]

21. More so on Huffington Post than here.

I find Huff Post a liberal news website. I love reading the articles and the comments. When I read the comments, I get the feel of what other people are thinking.

Even when I disagree with the comment, I like to critically think where that individual's argument is coming from. You never know when someone might change my mind.

Sometimes, in the Huff Post comments, you come across individuals that will defend Trump or come down on liberals. It's a guess of either they're Trump supporters or someone else.

I'm thinking that the "someone else" is what Christopher Bouzy is suggesting.

[Wellstone ruled]

30. Talk about a info site that has

gone over the edge. Not surprised considering the ownership.

[ChiTownDenny]

22. Social media is anti-social. n/t

[SWBTATTReg]

28. Good point and I think you're absolutely right! nt